Movement of National Defence
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The Movement of National Defence (Greek: Κίνημα της Εθνικής Αμύνης) was a revolution by Venizelist officers in Thessaloniki in 1916 against the royal government in Athens. It led to the establishment of a separate, Venizelist Greek state in the north of the country, which entered the First World War on the side of the Allies. This was a defining moment in the development of the great National Schism in Greece, whose effects would endure until after the Second World War.
[edit] Background: Greece 1914-1916
When the First World War broke out, Greece found itself in a peculiar situation. It had a treaty of alliance with Serbia, promising military assistance in the event of a Bulgarian attack. The very capable Prime Minister, Eleftherios Venizelos, an ardent admirer of Great Britain, supported entry in the war on the side of the Entente, while the King, who had been educated in Germany, married to the Kaiser's sister, and a deep admirer of Prussian militarism, anticipated a German victory. Aware that Greece was vulnerable to the British Fleet, he advocated a course of neutrality. Venizelos quarrelled with the King and his military advisors over Greece's entry in the war, and when Bulgaria mobilized against Serbia in September 1915, Venizelos ordered a Greek counter-mobilization, and called upon the Anglo-French to establish themselves in Thessaloniki as to aid Serbia. The King dismissed Venizelos, but the Allies had already landed in the city and begun to entrench themselves.
During the following year, Greece's official Royalist governments were hard-pressed to maintain neutrality. The Allies were constantly encroaching upon Greek sovereignty, and were eyeing the Germanophile court with distrust. The final straw came when, on May 26, 1916, the Greek government, succumbing to German pressure, ordered the surrender of the vital Rupel Fortress to the Germans. In response, on June 3, the Allied Commander-in-Chief, General Maurice Sarrail, imposed martial law, effectively abolishing Greek sovereignty in all of northern Greece. In August, the Bulgarian advance in eastern Macedonia commenced, facing little resistance, since the government refused to condone any firm action. As a result, 5000 men of IV Corps surrendered to the Germans on 26 August. This surrender of hard-won territories to the hated Bulgarians, with only token resistance, outraged most Greeks. At the same time, the establishment of the exiled Serbian King and his government in Thessaloniki, the presence of 120,000 Serbian troops in the Macedonian Front, and several relevant Allied remarks raised fears that the city would be handed over to the Serbians.
[edit] The Revolution and Aftermath
On August 17 (O.S.), officers supporting Venizelos, having formed themselves into the "Revolutionary Committee of National Defence", rose up against the government, with the intent of bringing Greece into the war on the Allies' side. Although they could count on the support of many individual officers, the only major force to declare itself openly for the movement were the men of the Cretan Gendarmerie. Initial clashes between the rebels and the loyal 11th Division of Colonel Trikoupis left 3 dead, but French intervention soon ended the firefight. On Sarrail's orders, the officers still loyal to the government were dismissed and sent to Athens, while the troops were disarmed and interned in camps. The revolution established control of Thessaloniki and was soon reinforced by the remnants of the Serres Division, which gave some ccredibility to the movement.
Venizelos himself left Athens with his closest associates only on September 25 for his homeland, Crete, where he was enthusiastically received. From there he proceeded through the Aegean islands to Thessaloniki, where he arrived on October 9. There the "Revolutionary Committee" handed over power to him. Venizelos formed a "National Triumvirate" with General Panagiotis Danglis and Admiral Pavlos Koundouriotis, although he alone held effective authority in the new "State of National Defence". The first tasks of the new government were the establishment of an army to fight alongside the Allies, and the consolidation of its rule in as much of Greece as possible. The Provisional Government declared war on the Central Powers on November 24 1916, and set out to recruit divisions for the Macedonian Front, something which was achieved with speed and often ruthlessness. Despite calls by some officers to abolish the monarchy and declare a Republic, Venizelos chose a more moderate path. Nonetheless, the reluctant and uneasy coexistence of the two Greek states was not destined to last, as the Noemvriana against Venizelists in Athens clearly illustrated that a rapprochement was now impossible.
The division of the country lasted for 9 months. On June 15, 1917 an Allied ultimatum forced King Constantine to abdicate in favour of his second-born son, Alexander, and, with the rest of his family, leave the country for Switzerland. Venizelos returned to Athens, as head of a superficially reunified Greece, and led it to victory alongside the Allies in World War I, but also in its entanglement in the subsequent Asia Minor Campaign. As such, the immediate aims of the "National Defence" were met. But the revolution was also an expression of the wide rift between the quasi-republican, progressive Venizelists and the conservative Royalists/Anti-Venizelists, and its outbreak marks also the beginning of the Greek National Schism which would leave a troublesome legacy to the country, as it continued in various forms up to the 1970s.